


Christmas with Sookie

by Severina



Category: True Blood
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 20:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13131780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: Eric's never had to purchase a Christmas present before.. at least not for someone he cares about. Turns out it's a little more difficult than expected.





	Christmas with Sookie

**Author's Note:**

> I started this *last* Christmas, and finished it up this year. I haven't written anything in a loooong time and this is probably very OOC but gotta get back on the horse sometime, right? Happy Holidays, all!

"So what are you gettin' Sook for Christmas?" Jason asked in a whisper. 

Eric swiveled his head slowly when Sookie's brother nudged his arm. He clearly remembered ripping the limb from a similarly complexioned boy who'd once behaved so impertinently. 1768, that was. A good year. 

When Jason snuck a look toward the stairs, Eric found himself following the young man's gaze. Sookie had disappeared into the upper reaches of her home several minutes before. He could sense her puttering about in the bedroom, where he had hoped to be ensconced this night. It was bad enough to fly in for what he'd hoped would be a lengthy night of passionate sex with his lover only to find her brother installed on her living room sofa watching a sporting event on her television. Having the breather then butt against him like an eager puppy and query him as to his intentions toward his beloved had him fighting the urge to drop his fangs. 

Oblivious to the direction of his thoughts, Jason nodded once he discerned the coast was clear, and raised his brows. "Well, come on. Fess up! Your secret's safe with me."

"I… hadn't thought of it," Eric finally answered.

"Well, you'd best _get_ thinkin'! Christmas is only a week away!"

Eric's gaze flicked to the unwieldly tree covered with garish decorations displayed in front of the window. He knew, of course, of the rituals that Christians performed at this time of year. He knew of the presents they exchanged in mimicry of the gifts of oil and precious metal given to their God. He had simply never had reason to think that he would be expected to partake in such an offering.

"I got Jess a diamond tennis bracelet," Jason confided. "Had to get a little loan from the bank, but ol' Sid Bruleau knows I'm good for keepin' up the payments. Got it from Spencers in Shreveport, the best dang jewelry store for five hundred miles."

Eric's lip curled. Low-grade gems in knock-off settings. He would not purchase a dog collar at Spencers. He raised a brow, picturing the young vampire seating customers at the shifter's bar with Jason's gaudy offering dangling from her wrist. "And where will Jessica wear such a bauble?"

"Anywhere she pleases!" Jason replied. "Mr. Richardson at the store told me a diamond bracelet goes with just about anything."

He was saved from replying when Sookie bounced into the room. He straightened on the sofa, hopeful that she had finally returned from her nameless tasks upstairs to escort her brother from the premises so that he could accomplish what he had come here to do – namely, to fuck her senseless on every available surface. "You two enjoyin' the game?" she asked.

Eric glanced toward the television. He had not left his bustling bar to watch grown men chase a tiny black object across the ice. He had left it to ravish his woman… who was now looking at him with her lips pressed together and a hopeful expression on her face. It came to him that she wished him to _like_ her brother, perhaps even to enjoy his company. The same expectation would likely be felt with her friends. He would be required to spend time with the shifter; with Lafayette Reynolds and the cook's loud-mouthed cousin. 

He squared his shoulders. He had endured worst things to win far inferior prizes. And he found he wished to make Sookie happy.

"It is quite… interesting," he answered. "We are in support of the Stars, correct?" 

Sookie favoured him with a glorious smile before Jason butted into him again. "You even got to ask? Hell _yeah_ we're rootin' for Dallas!" Jason clapped a hand comfortably on his shoulder, furrowed his brow and nudged him toward the screen. "You ain't a hockey fan? I'll explain it to ya, you'll catch on real quick."

The man clearly had no sense of caution. His lack of the simplest of self-preservation skills was going to make keeping him safe more of a chore than Eric had originally anticipated. He cared nothing for the man, but knew that his well-being was of paramount importance to Sookie. And Sookie's needs had to be balanced carefully.

The flash of warmth and gratitude he felt through their bond when he listened to her brother prattle on about 'offsides' and 'two line passes' made his effort worthwhile. He just had to ensure that Pam never got wind of this.

His eyes narrowed as he watched the action on the ice. 

And he thought about presents.

* * *

"I never took you as a _Cosmo_ fan," Pam said when she entered his office two days later.

Eric barely glanced up as his fingers sped through the pages. It was the fourth of Pamela's magazines that he'd gone through, flipping quickly past the many advertisements featuring anorexic models and trying to ignore the stink of a dozen different perfumes rising from the pages and permeating his pores. He would have to shower twice just to rinse the stench from his skin. 

"I have to buy Sookie a present," he finally said, looking up when Pam made no effort to leave him in peace.

Pam rolled her eyes. "It's not enough that she's making you waste two entire nights next week sitting around with shifters and bloodbags, listening to Josh fucking Groban on the stereo and talking about good will toward men or whatever the fuck breathers do at Christmas?"

"One shifter," Eric corrected, "and Sookie does not _make_ me do anything." 

He was not about to explain that he wished to do this for Sookie – that entirely too much of his waking hours were spent thinking of her, planning ways to please her and see her smile, waiting for the moment that he could leave Fangtasia or his Sheriff duties and sink his cock into her warm, moist heat. Mostly because he couldn't explain it to himself.

He flipped through several more pages, and then his temper overtook him. He flung the magazines away, watched them flutter to the floor. "There is nothing in these books!"

"Jewelry," Pam said in a bored tone. "Something flashy and expensive."

"No."

Pam's brow rose. "Every woman loves jewelry, Eric. Trust me on this."

"Sookie is not like every woman."

"Is this going to be another story about the sweetness of her blood and her feisty spirit and the way her eyes flutter when you make her come?" Pam asked. "Because if so I've already heard it. _Ten times._."

Eric grinned. "My prowess is legendary—"

"Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt," Pam drawled.

"And Sookie is—"

"Unique, fascinating, more rare than a blood opal, blah blah blah," Pam interrupted. "Oh, I know. Maybe a wand and a tiara for your fairy princess."

"You are not helping, Pam."

Perhaps it was the flash of his eyes, but his progeny backed away. He had not quite forgotten – or forgiven – her actions with the rocket launcher outside of the witch Marnie's establishment, nor the way she had put his lover in danger. A truce was in effect and she had formally pledged to defend Sookie's life in future as though it was his own, but Eric knew that it was the many years he had spent indulging his child that had allowed her to act out so thoughtlessly that day. She was balanced now on a knife-edge, and he would only let her act out so far. She had much ground to make up before she was fully back in his good graces, and she knew it.

He scowled at the magazines strewn on the floor once Pam had gone. Jewels and finery were acceptable for most women, but his Sookie was different. How many times had she railed at him that she refused to be seen as a 'kept woman'? How many times had she rejected the help that his wealth could provide for her? If he could make her happy by being extravagant, he would simply replace her death-trap of a vehicle with a new sports car and be done with it. 

No. With Sookie he had to be practical.

* * *

Josh Groban _was_ playing on the stereo.

Eric tried not to wince as the man's annoying baritone sliced through his eardrums; tried to concentrate instead on the light in Sookie's eyes as she ripped through the wrapping paper that covered her gift from the shifter. She'd been practically bouncing in place, sipping at her spiked eggnog and waiting for the clock to tip toward midnight so that it was officially Christmas Day and they could all open their presents. 

"Oh, it's so pretty," she gushed, holding up the teal sweater she pulled from the box. Eric's eyes narrowed. The fabric was lush, the cut designed to hug her form, the colour perfect against her skin. It was an ideal gift and he did not like the implications of the shifter giving it to her. "Thank you, Sam."

When Sookie leaned forward over the coffee table to press her lips to the shifter's cheek, Eric felt his fangs run out. The self-satisfied look that the shifter shot him did not help matters, and he growled softly under his breath. Sookie caught the intent if not the sound, and turned toward him to lift an eyebrow. It was less the look on her face than her warm palm squeezing his knee that enabled him to force his fangs back into place.

Besides, when her guests were gone he intended to take her under the flickering lights of her Yule tree and wipe any thoughts of Sam Merlotte from her memory. Several times. 

"This is so fun!" Jessica babbled, oblivious to how close the shifter had come to having an impromptu vasectomy. The tawdry bracelet Jason had given her flashed on her wrist. "Every Christmas with my family, all I ever got was bible study books. This is so exciting!"

"You gonna be spoiled rotten by me, Jess," Jason said. "You deserve everythin' good in this whole world."

The way he gazed at the vampire was nauseating. Eric would sneer did he not recognize the expression as one that he occasionally wore when he looked at Sookie, and the shy smile that Jessica returned to Jason was one that he saw often on his beloved's face as well. 

"Awww, Jason," Jessica cooed.

"All rights, some of us has got to be up for church in the morning," Lafayette said before the cumulative blood sugar of the humans in the room could rise to dangerous levels. "Who's next?"

Sookie reached for the diminishing pile of presents on the table. Her eyes gleamed as she shook the first of the two gifts from him, and he straightened proudly at her side. "This one is from Eric," she announced as she ripped gleefully into the vibrant paper. It fluttered to the floor, and she blinked several times as she reached into the box. "It's a… an ice scraper," Sookie said.

"You had said that there is often frost on your car windows in the early morning," Eric pointed out.

"I sure did!" Sookie said, her smile stretched wide. "Thank you so much."

"Eric, what the fuck—"

"It's wonderful," Sookie interrupted with a glare at her brother. Jason had gifted her with a game console, an item that was completely impractical especially since he had never seen his Sookie show any interest in video games while he'd known her. It was clear that her brother did not appreciate that Sookie valued presents that were useful.

"There is another," Eric said. He obligingly nudged the second gift toward her, and waited patiently while she – perhaps less eagerly? – tore into the last of his presents.

"And a portable handvac," Sookie said.

"No no no," Jason groaned. "Eric, dude—"

"Jason, you hush!"

"It's so that you no longer have to carry the vacuum up the stairs," Eric said. Jason had buried his head in his hands at Sookie's admonishment, and he flicked his eyes over to Sookie's brother in irritation before leaning over to point at the fine print on the box. Perhaps Jason did not see the versatility in the gift. "There are three settings, it is rechargeable in any outlet and it can also be used to vacuum your car seats," he pointed out helpfully.

"I'm sure I'll get a heck of a lot of use out of it," Sookie said. Her warm palm cupped his cheek as she leaned over to brush her lips against his. "Thank you, Eric."

She tasted of rum and dark chocolate, but buried beneath he savoured the essence of Sookie – of honeyed sweetbread, spring water, and sunlight. He wanted to bear her down and chase away those other flavours until only Sookie remained, as much as he wanted to spirit her away to her bed, strip her of the clothes that reeked of shifter and baby vampire and rut against her until only his scent lingered on her skin. He contented himself with nipping at her bottom lip and feeling her warm breath puff in a gasp against his lips; hearing her heart speed up; smelling the musky, fragrant scent of her arousal. When he pulled away Sookie's eyes were soft and their bond sang with her desire.

He leaned back on the sofa, one arm stretched comfortably across its back to rest possessively over Sookie's shoulders. And if he looked smug, so be it. He _was_ smug. The woman was his, and only his. The shifter's narrowed eyes and uneasy twitching in his seat did nothing to change that.

Only the slightest hint of disappointment flavoured by mild amusement tweaking their bond marred his pleasure. He thought it stemmed from her friend's delays in leaving, a process that took fifteen minutes and much irritating small talk that had his fangs aching to descend and his fingers curling with the urge to shove them bodily out the door so that he could finally divest his woman of her clothes and take her in front of her ridiculous tree. Or against the wall. Or both. 

But then he saw her eyes drift to the ice scraper. 

Perhaps he should have taken Pamela's advice and gone to Tiffany's.

* * *

"You were displeased by my gifts."

There had been a present beneath the tree with his name on it, but Sookie had been his true gift.   
Despite his eagerness to get her alone he had unwrapped her slowly, savouring each glimpse of skin revealed by the unveiling, licking and sucking every warm inch of flesh until she came apart in his arms long before he had even removed his own clothing. He took her twice – once among the detritus of wrapping paper and pine needles, and once in the bed with his woman on top, mesmerized by the sight of her as she closed her eyes and rode him slowly, seeking her pleasure. 

Now he rested his back on the headboard and lounged amongst the rumpled sheets; watched her as she returned from the bathroom and her human needs and began to brush out her long golden hair.

"Oh Eric, that's not true," Sookie insisted. Her brow creased as she put down her brush and crossed the room to settle onto his lap, her arms winding around his neck as she straddled his waist. "Anybody can go out and buy chocolates or jewelry, but you took the time to really think about what I needed. You came over on Christmas Eve to spend the night with me and my family and my friends, and tomorrow you're going to sit at the table and watch us stuff ourselves with turkey while you nurse a Tru Blood even though you hate that stuff. That's better than any gift."

He should have held his tongue. His gaze slipped away to take in the collection of bits and bobs strewn across her dresser: the hair ribbons and perfume decanters, earrings and bottles of nail polish. Any of which would have been a better gift than an _ice scraper_.

"Eric?" Her warm fingers stroked his cheek, and he let her turn his face back to hers. "I mean it," she said. "All I want for Christmas is—"

"Are you truly going to quote a trite holiday song to me, Sookie?"

"-- _you_ ," she finished firmly, though her eyes crinkled and her mouth twitched. 

When she lowered herself to brush their lips together he deftly swung her beneath him and deepened the kiss, felt her heart stutter and then begin to beat erratically beneath his. She'd tossed on his T-shirt before she headed to the bathroom and he easily shredded it now, baring her to his gaze. His large palm engulfed her breast, the nipple puckered and tight against his skin. He was ready for her, always ready, and when his fingers dipped beneath them to brush against her folds she let out a low, needy moan.

She lay limp and sated, sleeping with a smile on her face, when he slipped quietly from the bed forty-five minutes later. He bent to the jeans crumpled on the floor at the foot of the bed and dug his cell phone from the pocket before zipping down the stairs and placing the call to Pam. Her reaction when he informed her of what he wanted was exactly as he expected.

"Do you know what time it is?" she said. "What _day_ it is? How am I supposed to—"

"I don't care how you get it," Eric snapped, "just ensure that you do. Have it appropriately wrapped in a small box, no card, and placed in Sookie's mailbox at the end of the driveway before sunup. I will retrieve it from there when I wake tomorrow night."

"You owe me for this," Pam said. "A week in Paris."

"I'm asking you to purchase a present, not assassinate Sophie-Anne."

"New York, then," she countered. "For fashion week."

"I have been considering your proposal to open a satellite operation of _Fangtasia_ ," Eric said. "Siberia would be an unexpected location, don't you think? Of course, I would require someone of only the highest caliber in the management position there…"

Pam gasped. "Eric!"

"Pam," he said evenly. 

He let the silence draw out, and could practically hear her gritting her teeth. "Your little gift will be waiting in the mailbox."

Eric smiled. "Exactly what I wanted to hear. Oh, and… Merry Christmas, Pam."

She was still cursing when he hung up. He laughed, tossed the phone casually up and caught it in his hand, and then sped upstairs to kiss Sookie good night before he had to ensconce himself in the cubby.

He could make the rest of his calls from there.

* * *

Eric waited until Sookie had placed the platters of food on the table and she and her friends had bowed their heads in prayer to their God before he sped from the room to retrieve the item he'd earlier hidden in the living room. He returned before they even realized he was gone, and Sookie opened her eyes to find the small, brightly wrapped package sitting in the middle of her dinner plate.

Her eyes widened in surprise before they flicked to his. "Eric?"

He lifted a shoulder. 

Her eyes narrowed. "We said we were going to exchange all our gifts last night."

"I've never been one for following the rules," he said smoothly. "Open it."

He could tell that she really wanted to scold him further, but her excitement won out. The paper ripped beneath her eager hands and she opened the box to slide the flimsy scraps of material from within. The delicate strips of burnished copper dangled from one finger.

Her brow rose. "It's…"

"Small," the shifter said around a cough.

"Real pretty," Bill's progeny said.

"Indecent!" Jason blurted out. "That's my sister gonna be wearin' that, buddy!"

"Cute," Sookie finally finished with a glare at the men at the table. She tucked the bikini back into the box. "And you're right, Jess, it's gonna look great with my skin tone. I'm gonna love wearin' that to sun tan when the weather gets nicer. Thank you, Eric."

"The bathing suit is wrapped," Eric said, "because I could not gift wrap your other present."

"My other—"

"As you know, I own a plantation in the Barbados. My people there have been informed to prepare the house for our arrival. A chef has been hired to fix your favourite dishes, and of course there are spa treatments for you during the day and a private pool and beach for our use. I've arranged our stay for one week, though that can be extended as you desire. We leave tomorrow night." 

"A week on a tropical island?" Sookie squealed. "Are you flippin' kidding me?"

"Well that's just _great_ ," Jason grumbled. "Way to set the bar way the fuck outta reach, dude."

Eric leaned back on the chair and picked up his drink, sipping at the wretched synthetic and focusing on Sookie. "That is, if Sam will give you the time off."

Sookie's excited gaze flipped to Sam, who squirmed in his chair. "I dunno, Sook. That'll put you out right over New Year's Eve and you know that's our busiest—" 

Eric didn't need to see the look on Sookie's face to know that she was giving her boss her most imploring expression. He knew the look very well, and if it could melt the hardest of vampire hearts – his – then a ragged mutt like Merlotte didn't stand a chance. It was no surprise when the shifter slumped.

"What am I thinkin'?" he said. "Of course you can have the time off. You deserve it, Sook."

Her smile lit the room, and Eric didn't even mind when she left her chair to dart around the table and wrap her arms quickly around Sam's neck. Especially since she then came straight to him, and only smiled and squealed again when he caught her around the waist and dipped her down for a kiss. The disgruntled look that the shifter shot him only sweetened the taste of his woman's lips.

He sat straighter in the chair, only reluctantly letting her go. He had every right to feel proud of himself. He was nothing if not adaptable. He had managed to navigate the entire gift-giving aspect of Sookie's human holiday with hardly a hitch. 

And there'd be no need for a fluffy teal sweater on a tropical island.


End file.
